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nesbit37 posted:I'm glad the artist's alley is a thing, and I get that it gets more foot traffic by being in the exhibit hall, but I think it's time to move that thing somewhere else. I would love it if they could take those CCG vendors out and put them in the CCG tournament area but unless they wanted to staff them 24 hours a day I don't think its feasible. The best part of Artist's Alley was having an easy shortcut from the west door to the booths up top with lighter crowds.
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Aug 20, 2015 19:19
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TheHoosier posted:Yeah it wasn't bad. The smell was horrific but that's par for the course. I think the smell was noticeably worse this year than the past few. My guess was due to having it in July instead of Mid-August but who knows.
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Aug 20, 2015 19:28
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I hate that the loving MtG booths use the alley around their booth as additional space. I also think it might be time for artist alley to move somewhere else.
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Aug 20, 2015 19:34
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Just move some of the big booths elsewhere. FFG hogged all the walk ways all weekend long with people waiting in hour long lines wrapped all around their booth. Also the artist area was a giant waste of space. Every time I passed by their area they were all staring off into space with no one stopping by them.
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Aug 20, 2015 20:18
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Just put FFG in the back corner and make the line wrap around the outside of the vendor hall and out the doors into the main halls. Keep the line out of the drat way so it doesn't block other vendors.
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Aug 20, 2015 20:20
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Bottom Liner posted:Just put FFG in the back corner and make the line wrap around the outside of the vendor hall and out the doors into the main halls. Keep the line out of the drat way so it doesn't block other vendors. Nobody puts FFG in the corner. I'm not sure they'd be happy with boothspace that isn't pretty central.
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Aug 20, 2015 20:38
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TheHoosier posted:Yeah it wasn't bad. The smell was horrific but that's par for the course. Walking in to the convention center for the first time on Thursday and heading to Customer Service was like taking a bath in sperglord BO. It was never worse than that, but sweet jesus how can you stink so loving badly standing inside at 8am? It almost inoculated me to the stench the rest of the weekend. Almost.
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Aug 20, 2015 20:48
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I wish they'd go ahead and start using the stadium too. Put the artists over there, maybe the cosplay parade and large crowd events. And give big companies their own rooms for events and selling that they can lock up at night so the main hall has more variety instead of what's quickly going to become the same 50 booths every year. And yeah, the card buyers need to be in the Magic area or something, I avoided them completely this year because the traffic was so bad with 500 nerds haggling over cards
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Aug 20, 2015 20:58
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They really should just put the Magic card buyers in the card game auditorium.
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Aug 20, 2015 21:15
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fordan posted:Nobody puts FFG in the corner. I'm not sure they'd be happy with boothspace that isn't pretty central. Like it matters. They could put FFG in the smallest hidden room in the basement and it would become more popular than the main hall. I like FFG, but drat that line management was so bad.
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Aug 20, 2015 21:46
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So my wife and I were able to visit this year, and had a great time! We're both huge nerds so we knew we would, but we were able to see a lot of nerdy friends and fellow goon Trundel. Our art friend/D&D player had an artist booth this year, and brought my favourite picture of hers, the flower orc.
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Aug 20, 2015 22:20
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What did people think of the art show this year? This was the first year they did juried art show acceptance, and I'm wondering what people thought of the outcome.
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Aug 20, 2015 22:31
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Haystack posted:What did people think of the art show this year? This was the first year they did juried art show acceptance, and I'm wondering what people thought of the outcome. My friend who entered won an award of some type so I think sh's quite happy with the outcome.
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Aug 20, 2015 22:56
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It would definitely be interesting to see what would happen if they moved the artists out of the main hall again. I think getting them to move Chessex is a fool's errand, but I could almost see some of the enormous card dealers being willing to move into that huge card room right next to the Exhibit Hall...but then I instantly wonder if there are, like, "zoning issues" inside the Convention Center that mean you have to only sell things in certain areas? No clue, obviously. nesbit37 posted:I think the smell was noticeably worse this year than the past few. My guess was due to having it in July instead of Mid-August but who knows. Haystack posted:What did people think of the art show this year? This was the first year they did juried art show acceptance, and I'm wondering what people thought of the outcome. I do have to apologize though, because I can only assume the jury system is the reason the ... "unconventional" artists who made it actively uncomfortable to go through Artists' Alley by engaging everyone who went by their booths are gone, so overall I consider it a big plus, even if it would be nice to have some of the weirder artists back. Edit: Oh yeah, has anyone else had zero luck ever getting the "Shut Up & Sit Down" Gen-Con episode to actually buffer? No matter how long I wait, it plays like 3 seconds and then is like JUST KIDDING and claims to be loading but never does. Dr. Quarex fucked around with this message at 01:59 on Aug 21, 2015 |
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Aug 21, 2015 01:56
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I watched it a few days ago but it had audio sync issues
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Aug 21, 2015 03:51
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I noticed quite a bit more stinky nerds this year, and it felt more crowded than before. I also feel like anything with wheels that isn't your source of mobility should be banned from the exhibit hall at this point. Otherwise, much was the same. Definitely disappointed in Forge World/Games Workshop's showing this time around, and I still don't understand why anyone would bother waiting in line for an hour or more to get at anything FFG has to offer. I went to their booth on Saturday and had to wait maybe a few minutes to buy all the new ex wangs. I will add that I was there at the entrance in front of the FFG booth at 8am on Thursday, and figured, why not check it out? It took maybe ten seconds to walk to their booth from the door when they opened, at which point one of their workers, a shrieking troll of a woman, incredulous as to what we thought we were doing, rudely informed myself and several others that the line started "over by the guy with the sign at the wall," and threw her hands up with a disgusted look on her face and sauntered back into their booth. Kinda pissed me off nice and early the first day of the convention. I didn't show up early on Thursday expecting to beat a crowd or nab any limited availability items, I was mainly just walking around and seeing who had what set up this time around, and formulating a plan on what to demo or check out later on. I'll probably sleep in next year, and show up mid afternoon to avoid the nerd rush though.
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Aug 21, 2015 07:19
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Reynold posted:... Forge World/Games Workshop's showing this time around... You were disappointed in Forge World, as they were running both booths, because Games Workshop got deported at the airport. This is still one of my favorite stories from the con. PS: Yeay, gently caress trying to get into the FFG booth for the last few years.
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Aug 21, 2015 08:02
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FFG really just needs a kiosk displaying all their preview and just announced stuff and then their own room elsewhere in the convention center. Last year the line at least died down to the point where you could just walk in but I don't think that happened this year. Even on Sunday in the early afternoon there was still a line. Doesn't really make sense to even be in the dealer's hall if it's a walled off store you can't really look into or access.
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Aug 21, 2015 12:53
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The exhibit hall is getting bananas, and I do not envy that staff. We tried to expands to get and additional 10x10 added to our 10x20 and expansion was locked, no matter how many "Priority Points" you have. Which are a crazy, arbitrary number to begin with. You earn them through consecutive years exhibiting, and was once told you could earn extra points through hosting events tied to your company that's exhibiting. I do not know how many PPs we have ( ) and I don't know if there's way to know, actually. I also did not hear about this: quote:For 2016, Gen Con took the controversial step of eliminating the on-site renewal option for companies with less than 30 “Priority Points,” the equivalent of three years of buying a 10’ x 10’ booth. Instead those companies will go into a different process in the fall, along with new companies that want to exhibit. This was causing considerable concern among newer companies who wanted to be sure they had a continuing presence at the show. I would be seriously loving pissed if I FINALLY managed to get into the show and was not allowed to rebook after all of my efforts. I also have opinions about the multi-boothers and things like that in the hall.. but I don't wanna make any fellow exhibitors angry. They might be a goon reading this right now! 
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Aug 21, 2015 15:03
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Mudcrab Merchant posted:The exhibit hall is getting bananas, and I do not envy that staff. We tried to expands to get and additional 10x10 added to our 10x20 and expansion was locked, no matter how many "Priority Points" you have. Which are a crazy, arbitrary number to begin with. You earn them through consecutive years exhibiting, and was once told you could earn extra points through hosting events tied to your company that's exhibiting. I do not know how many PPs we have ( no but you see gale force nine needs 100 sq feet of space to sell the WWE board game which i liked
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Aug 21, 2015 15:08
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Deviant posted:no but you see gale force nine needs 100 sq feet of space to sell the WWE board game which i liked The Homeland game is also pretty good.
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Aug 21, 2015 15:39
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8one6 posted:You were disappointed in Forge World, as they were running both booths, because Games Workshop got deported at the airport. Feel free to recount it for those of us who missed what sounds like a hilarious occurrence. CellBlock posted:The Homeland game is also pretty good. Sons of Anarchy is also legit.
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Aug 22, 2015 09:12
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Sanschel posted:Feel free to recount it for those of us who missed what sounds like a hilarious occurrence. Someone at Games Workshop corporate hosed up their visa requests (they came into the country on a tourist visa instead of the temp worker visa they needed) so while going through customs someone mentioned that they were working a booth at Gen Con. The GW folks and all of the product they brought with them for the convention apparently got deported right then and there. It left the Forge World staff working both booths with almost no product for the "GW" booth. It's why the GW booth was all Sigmarines for the first day, they had to emergency ship product from the US warehouse. I heard rumors (so grain of salt on this one) that GW US begrudgingly sent along some staff (read interns) from the US office when the Forge World staff threatened to stop working the second booth. From what I understand of the visa situation GW may have boned themselves for a few years because of the GW gently caress up.
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Aug 22, 2015 10:57
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8one6 posted:Someone at Games Workshop corporate hosed up their visa requests (they came into the country on a tourist visa instead of the temp worker visa they needed) so while going through customs someone mentioned that they were working a booth at Gen Con. The GW folks and all of the product they brought with them for the convention apparently got deported right then and there. It left the Forge World staff working both booths with almost no product for the "GW" booth. It's why the GW booth was all Sigmarines for the first day, they had to emergency ship product from the US warehouse. I heard rumors (so grain of salt on this one) that GW US begrudgingly sent along some staff (read interns) from the US office when the Forge World staff threatened to stop working the second booth. Brits don't need a visa to enter the US unless we want to work. The UK is in on the ESTA Visa-waiver scheme, and someone at GW mistakenly thought that would cover four days working a booth at a convention.
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Aug 22, 2015 14:33
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GW is becoming the best source of schadenfreude.
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Aug 22, 2015 15:03
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Dave Brookshaw posted:Brits don't need a visa to enter the US unless we want to work. The UK is in on the ESTA Visa-waiver scheme, and someone at GW mistakenly thought that would cover four days working a booth at a convention. The Visa Waiver Program covers short-term business visits too and explicitly calls out conventions as an example. As long as they were on UK passports and being paid by GW from the UK and not a US company, it should have been fine. I can think of other reasons they'd get turned back, most having to do with false declarations about themselves or any goods they were bringing with them (or those sent not having a passport from a VWP country), but don't think it was likely a simple visa screwup.
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Aug 22, 2015 15:09
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Weirdo posted:So my wife and I were able to visit this year, and had a great time! We're both huge nerds so we knew we would, but we were able to see a lot of nerdy friends and fellow goon Trundel. Our art friend/D&D player had an artist booth this year, and brought my favourite picture of hers, the flower orc. Please tell your friend that she is awesome. That painting is rad.
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Aug 23, 2015 22:11
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8one6 posted:You were disappointed in Forge World, as they were running both booths, because Games Workshop got deported at the airport. I was particularly interested given that I work in immigration and was like OOOH WHICH FORM DID HE MESS UP but it seems like he probably just did a bad job explaining his reasons for being in the country to the person who filled out the paperwork for him in the first place. Mudcrab Merchant posted:The exhibit hall is getting bananas, and I do not envy that staff. We tried to expands to get and additional 10x10 added to our 10x20 and expansion was locked, no matter how many "Priority Points" you have. Which are a crazy, arbitrary number to begin with. You earn them through consecutive years exhibiting, and was once told you could earn extra points through hosting events tied to your company that's exhibiting. I do not know how many PPs we have (
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Aug 25, 2015 03:26
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Quarex posted:I was disappointed when I read, assuming this is actually the true story either, that the Games Workshop guy actually did eventually get in. Though I grant that your second explanation is at least as detailed as the counter-explanation I read. Has anybody been getting bigger booths? Seems like everybody that was there last year had the same space as before.
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Aug 25, 2015 04:08
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We actively chose to make our booth smaller this year by 500sqft, which probably just became more Chessex end-caps.  But yeah, there's always some flux to things in the hall because of stuff like that, but as for how the point system actually shakes out for exhibitors wanting to expand, or how that gets parsed out to new booth opportunities I have no idea.
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Aug 25, 2015 04:58
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SU&S did a thing on Two Rooms and a Boom. http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/blog/post/susd-play-two-rooms-and-boom/ Goon OtspIII was all presidential and poo poo. I watched it and was like I KNOW THIS GOON.
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Sep 6, 2015 09:58
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Carteret posted:SU&S did a thing on Two Rooms and a Boom. http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/blog/post/susd-play-two-rooms-and-boom/ It was fun watching Quinn slowly shoot himself in the foot for the entire game.
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Sep 6, 2015 15:44
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This was my first year at Gencon, and some people have told me that marshaling and ticket distribution was actually better and more organized than years past. I'm not sure how true that is but the organization was still awful. If they are giving us fancy name badges with bar codes can they not link the name badges with tickets electronically and scan them when we enter a room or start a game? I understand it would be a costly investment to purchase scanners, but is that the only hurdle? Could this be possible in the future? Also as an aside for anyone planning to go next year: I thought the new games room was the best time to money value (waiting in the queue is free). I had a lot of fun playing new games and giving feedback to the creators. Highly recommended, and you get to make new friends!
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Sep 19, 2015 20:28
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SquidVicious posted:This was my first year at Gencon, and some people have told me that marshaling and ticket distribution was actually better and more organized than years past. I'm not sure how true that is but the organization was still awful. If they are giving us fancy name badges with bar codes can they not link the name badges with tickets electronically and scan them when we enter a room or start a game? I understand it would be a costly investment to purchase scanners, but is that the only hurdle? Could this be possible in the future? The way people use tickets now, they're very much currency - people trade them back and forth, game runners will accept extra people on generics / let people in with generics if someone doesn't show who owns a ticket, etc. Managing that with an electronic system would be significantly more difficult and would probably outweigh the convenience of not having to carry the physical tickets on your person. Also the number of ticket takers numbers in the hundreds or thousands and doing that over the convention wifi to validate would be a nightmare.
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Sep 19, 2015 21:42
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$10 price hike for pre-reg tickets, the lottery system returns for hotel death day this year, and an expansion into the stadium. Gen Con pre-reg anxiety begins anew for getting a decent hotel room and then getting into events!
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Dec 17, 2015 16:29
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Jesus they really did mean an increase of $10 each year didn't they? And a non-prereg badge is $120? Was that the case last year?
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Dec 17, 2015 16:38
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Nope, on-site 4 day badge was $90 last year, so a $30 bump there.
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Dec 17, 2015 16:56
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I was already debating passing on this year because I'd like to move before 2016 is over. That extra $10 might give me just enough flimsy justification to miss out. 
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Dec 17, 2015 17:08
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My first GenCon was 2012, they had 41K attendees. Last year was over 60K. Yeah, raise the prices, make some money, thin out the crowd, dang, something, anything. I don't think moving TD to Lucas Oil is going to make a difference on the crowds - that area of the convention center was never jam packed.
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Dec 17, 2015 17:31
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I just hope this means they can put all the CCG events in the hall where True Dungeon was and expand the exhibit hall into that space. Even better if they banish all the giant card vendor booths to Hall F (or whatever letter it is) with them.
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Dec 17, 2015 17:35
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